PEOPLE across Wirral are enjoying their cleanest drinking water thanks to a £23.5m project by United Utilities.

Sutton Hall water treatment works in Ellesmere Port has doubled in size and been improved with hi-tech equipment to meet new quality standards.

This means that when the 500,000 customers served by the plant turn on their taps the water coming out has passed through more filters and treatments than ever before.

In particular, the improvements will reduce the risk of cryptosporidium, a microscopic organism which can get through traditional filters and cause illness.

Will Eyre of United Utilities, who led the project for the company, said: 'This is great news for people across the Wirral and some may even have noticed the change in quality already.

'When you consider 120 million litres of drinking water are supplied from Sutton Hall every day, enough to fill around 50 Olympic-sized swimming pools, this work has made a big difference.'

The huge engineering project was completed in two years and finished ahead of schedule. Staff from United Utilities worked in partnership with Galliford-Costain JV and Montgomery Watson Harza.

People living nearby may notice some work continuing on the site as minor parts of the job are finished.

Mr Eyre added: 'This was a big challenge for all the teams who worked on it. The fact it was finished ahead of schedule is a credit to everyone.'

United Utilities worked closely with the neighbouring residents and school to make sure that disruption was kept to a minimum.

The improvements were part of United Utilities' £3billion investment programme across the North West between 2000 and 2005 - the largest package of environmental and water-quality improvements carried out in the UK.